Building Resilience When the Future Feels Unsteady
Resilience—the capacity to adapt, recover, and keep moving forward—is a mental skillset that matters more than ever in a world defined by rapid change, economic uncertainty, and constant information overload. For people who feel anxious about what lies ahead, future-proofing the mind isn’t about predicting outcomes; it’s about strengthening how you meet whatever comes next. A Quick Orientation Before We…
Shifting Your Teen’s Relationship with Social Media
As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and author of the book, Calming Teenage Anxiety: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Your Teenager Cope with Worry, I am frequently asked about the relationship between adolescent anxiety and current social media use. While it is near impossible to disregard the impact of social media on teen mental health, I do not recommend prohibiting…
The Wellness Reframe: The Strategic Power of Doing Nothing
I used to think rest days were for quitters. Then plantar fasciitis—and too many injuries—taught me otherwise. In a fitness culture that glorifies the grind, doing nothing feels like giving up. But what if your rest days are the most important training days of all? Rest isn't weakness. It's wisdom. Learning About Recovery the Hard Way Mid-40s. Marathon training. Convinced…
6 Indicators for Healthy Relationships
When your situation is difficult or downright painful, your life will be better if you turn your attention to caring about others instead of waiting for and hoping that someone will care about you. When you feel sad or depressed, don’t wait for someone to be kind to you. Instead, find someone to be kind to, even if it’s simply…
3 Swimming Interval Workouts to Try
One of the most challenging parts of being a self-coached swimmer is figuring out what to do in your workouts. Because most people don’t have a background in coaching and set design, they revert to the simplest thing they know how to do, that is steady, low-intensity swimming for a set amount of time, e.g., swimming for 20 minutes straight,…
Can Alzheimer’s Disease be Caused by Bacterial Infection?
When most people hear the word chlamydia, they are likely to think of the sexually transmitted disease caused by chlamydia trachomatis. But two other species of chlamydia bacteria are pathogenic to humans: C. psittaci and C. pneumoniae. Chlamydia pneumoniae (CPn) is a respiratory tract pathogen that causes pneumonia and can be transmitted from person to person through inhalation of airborne…
How to Prepare for Open Water Swimming
Even though I have been teaching the art of swimming to children, teens, and adults for over 30 years, I still derive enormous satisfaction from seeing the look of enlightenment when one of my athletes accomplishes something in swimming that they didn’t think they could. This happens most often when it comes to moving from the controlled environment of the…
5 Steps to Take Charge of Your Future
The future is an interesting, unavoidable, inevitable and yet, highly influential time in all of our lives. It is something that is sure to happen but that we have a key role in influencing. Particularly in the area of goal setting and visual imagery planning, there is a lot of power in influencing our future by taking healthy steps now…
How to Walk Your Talk in the New Year
Don’t let the New Year intimidate you! You’re already exactly where you need to be. Making dreams come true is believing that what is meant for you will not miss you. While this may sound rather woo-woo, I am talking about reframing your mindset so you can position yourself to receive the countless opportunities that will become available when you…
Concerned About Inflammation? Exercise!
Scientists have shown the pathological link between inflammation and numerous chronic diseases. However, inflammation is not all bad. In fact, in some instances it’s critical to our health and survival. Acute, short term inflammation is a normal, healthy process within the body that helps protect us from infection, pathogens, and pollutants, and accelerates healing. The inflammatory response involves immune cells…
What to Eat for Your Pre-Workout Snack
When you reach the 30-year mark as a coach, you compile a list of most asked questions. Some of my greatest hits include, how often should I workout each week if I want to lose weight, and if I start lifting weights will I get bulky, because I DO NOT want to get bulky! But the most important question that…
